SUBWAY SWING

This backpack transformed into a swing and allowed Woolard to engage in conversations with subway riders about biopolitics. Taking the material of backpacks to a logical extremem, the backpack's straps elongate and wrap around the subway handrail. Rather than understanding the public announcement "if you see something, say something," as a form of surveillance, Woolard attempted to turn public attention away from terrorism and toward the playful curiosity of strangers. This work, made in 2014, lacked awareness about the ways that white people are able to turn public infrastructure into playgrounds without the threat of state-sanctioned violence. Woolard warns that these sorts of projects are often sanctioned by real estate developers to rename and gentrify areas. To watch a video online, google “subway swing.”